Cowboys prove they have staying power with win over West Alabama

McNeese State’s first two games were a bit like vintage Mike Tyson fights. A couple of punches in, the opponent was on the
mat for the count.

It was a different story on Saturday as the Cowboys were taken to the final bell by West Alabama. Coach Matt Viator believes
that the previously unneeded resolve the Cowboys displayed in their last-minute 44-42 win says a lot about his squad.

“This team loves to compete,” Viator
said. “We did in the spring, and pretty much every day throughout August
camp. At times
we didn’t play as good as we wanted to the other night, but the
effort was there. The competitive spirit is very good on this
team.

All the coaches know there’s nothing like having a team that has that great competitive spirit about them.”

Viator said that spirit carried over to
the meeting room for film review on Sunday, with the team eager to
figure out how
to clean up a performance that yielded 565 yards to the Tigers,
the most since Texas State picked up 580 against the Cowboys
in 2008.

“There’s no question they were (eager).
We had a great meeting (Sunday),” Viator said. “I felt we played
extremely hard. We
felt we all need to coach and play better, and we can. It’s a game
where you want to pat them on the back for finding a way
to win. But there’s the big picture, and we certainly have to play
and coach a little better than we did. And that’s not taking
anything away from West Alabama. We can just do better than we
did.”

If this one goes high-octane, Viator says his Cowboys are more than ready.

“We probably should have been more patient with the run game than what we were. But games just kind of play out,” Viator said.
“It was just the way it unfolded. There were some things in the passing game we thought we could do.

“It just kind of happened with the back-and-forth style. If that’s how it unfolds this week, that’s how it unfolds.”

The Cowboys beat the Wildcats 35-21 in Ogden, Utah last season.

McNeese hopes to get the services of linebacker Hayden Dobbs for the first half.

By rule, Dobbs was ejected from the West Alabama game when he was flagged for targeting an opposing player in the head. Since
the foul occurred in the second half, Dobbs would have to sit out the opening half of this week’s game as a suspension.

But video of the hit indicates that may
not end up happening. McNeese appealed the ruling to the Southland
Conference office,
and Viator said SLC coordinator of officials Byron Boston agreed
with McNeese’s appeal before passing it along to the NCAA,
which will have the final call.

“I don’t want to be premature with it,
but I’ll state the facts... The commissioner (Tom Burnett) and Mr.
Boston both agree
with us,” Viator said. “Now it has to go to the NCAA itself. We
didn’t necessarily think it was in the spirit of the targeting
rule.”

Dobbs’ ejection left the Cowboys
without two of their top four linebackers, as Deonte Thompson was
already out with a concussion.

Viator said he expected to hear the NCAA’s ruling by the time the Cowboys return to practice today.